Monday, 2 October 2017

Hasty for the Dark.

Hasty for the Dark is
the new collection from Adam Nevill and is the follow up volume to last year’s Some Will Not Sleep which has deservedly
just won the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection. Like that book, Hasty… has been published by Adam’s own
Ritual Limited and – also like the previous volume – is a beautifully produced
hardback, this time featuring illustrations from Adam’s brother Simon, evidence
that talent really does run in the family with the pictures perfectly
envisioning the dark imagination of the author.

The book features nine stories, written between 2009 and
2015 - the period of time which began with the publication of Apartment 16 and ending with Lost Girl – and it’s a bonus, amongst
many of the pleasures to be enjoyed within these pages, to see the subtle
references to those works – and the novels which were published between them –
in the stories collected here.

The opening story is On
All London Underground Lines, which tells of the journey from Hell on the
titular transport network. Or possibly the journey through Hell… Told from the first person perspective of an unnamed
narrator, it effectively channels the frustrations and sense of dislocation and
powerlessness experienced by many a traveller on the underground system, the
feeling of being part of a herd, endlessly being shifted here, there and
everywhere at the whim of the Gods of Transportation.

Of course, there are other horrors to be endured, the crowds
through which the narrator struggles to find a way through are somehow
different, there’s a hint of decay about them, something monstrous. So
self-absorbed is our narrator, however, that – although he sees the horrors around
him, his own personal needs render the monsters little more than annoying
obstructions to his progress, placed there simply to get in his way. The imagery,
whilst ignored by the narrator, is startling and a joy to read.

Next up is The Angels
of London, which shifts the emphasis from travel in the capital city to
life within it – more precisely that in rented accommodation. Tenant Frank
comes into conflict with landlord Granby over a rise in rent and faces threats
of retribution from the “family” who lease the property. Anyone who has read
Adam’s novel No One Gets Out Alive will
find echoes of that book’s loathsome landlord Knacker McGuire in the character
of Granby who presents himself here as little more than a messenger boy for the
“family” – a servant of sorts – conjuring similarities to Renfield, in thrall
to a terrifying and monstrous master. Whilst the landlords might be described
as blood-suckers with regards their rent demands, it turns out they’re far
worse than mere vampires – and those demands go far beyond money…

Always in Our Hearts takes
the reader on a very strange journey indeed, with taxi driver Ray hired to
carry out a relay of journeys, dropping passengers off and picking up the next
fare at the same house. All the passengers carry large bags which seem to
contain something living although what this is remains a mystery throughout all
the journeys, Ray’s curiosity increasing along with the reader’s as to exactly
what all this is about. All is revealed at the final drop-off, neatly resolving
the mysteries developed along the way and culminating in a bizarre climax. A
strange offering indeed.

I had already read many of the stories in this collection
but none so recently as Eumenides (The
Benevolent Ladies) which I’d only just encountered in the New Fears anthology. Scholars of Greek
Mythology will have an idea of what this story will be about just from its
title and will probably smile at the names Jason and Electra – the protagonists
of this tale of a first date going horribly wrong. This tale was written as a
homage to Robert Aickman and hits the mark perfectly, presenting a series of
strange, unexplained events and ending on a note of ambiguity, leaving the
reader unsettled and disturbed. Along the way, it conjures up some deliciously
creepy imagery by way of an inspired location – an abandoned zoo in which all
of the animals (possibly) have gone.

The Days of Our Lives is
one of my favourites in the collection, telling of a marriage made in Hell and
featuring some classic Nevill imagery (to say nothing of some nice
cross-pollination with his novels). The story borders on the surreal in some of
its descriptions of the bizarre relationship between the story’s narrator and
wife Lois and goes onto some very dark territory. Whilst the previous story
unsettled the reader in a subtle way, the discomfort brought about by this tale
is a lot more overt. It’s a genuinely disturbing piece of writing which forms
the dark heart of the collection.

Hippocampus is up
next and is my favourite story within Hasty
for the Dark. I was blown away by it when I first read it in Terror Tales of the Ocean and am no less
impressed on revisiting it here. It’s an extremely cleverly constructed story,
and one which features no characters. It’s perhaps the literary equivalent of a
found footage film, the narrative taking the form of a journey through an
abandoned ship, describing what is present in each of the rooms encountered.
This is no benign mystery like the Marie
Celeste, the evidence uncovered reveals something terrible, and incredibly
violent has happened to the crew. The real skill of the narrative is to engage
the reader’s imagination, presenting them with the evidence and getting them to
work out what has happened. There’s horror aplenty here but perhaps the
greatest of them all is that this is not just the description of an aftermath
but also a prelude.

Call the Name is
the second of the four tribute stories in the collection, this time the author
in question being HP Lovecraft. It’s the longest story in the book and is set
in the same world as Adam’s novel Lost
Girl. The environmental disaster described in that book provides the
backdrop to this story and – a la Lovecraft – much scientific evidence is
provided to explain just how things got as bad as they did, all impressive
stuff, thoroughly researched and presented in a frighteningly believable way.
Huge themes of revenge against mankind, the despoilers of the planet feature
here and it’s an interesting proposition that it might not be the stars being
right that herald the return of the Old Ones so much as the earth being wrong.

White Light, White
Heat is the third tribute story, this time channelling the style and tropes
of mark Samuels – a writer who, to my shame, I have yet to encounter. I have
read Ligotti however, and found much to compare with that particular author in
this unremittingly grim take on corporate life, a soul-destroying existence
that grinds down its workers until the only possible source of hope is
resistance. Interestingly, and possibly significantly, the industry under examination
here is publishing.

The final story in the collection is also a tribute with Ramsey
Campbell the recipient of the honour in Little
Black Lamb. Again, it’s a masterful job of recreating the honoured author’s
style and technique, the story injecting a heavy dose of sinister into a
domestic setting, with a tale of a couple receiving memories which are not
their own, images and thoughts which drive them towards a disturbing, and again
deeply unsettling, course of action.

Hasty for the Dark is
a superb collection of stories, and a worthy successor to Some Will Not Sleep. In comparison to the earlier book, its horrors
are perhaps more subtle, less overt but are no less effective for that. The
grotesqueries of that first volume have been replaced by suggestion and more
ambiguous terror but the stories here still do a grand job of horrifying the
reader.

There are links to Adam’s other books for sure, but also
connections between the stories themselves. A recurring image will make sure
you never look at a seahorse in the same way again and there are tantalising
hints of the mysterious “Movement” which will hopefully bear much fruit in
forthcoming works.

This is a stunning book in every regard, a wonderful
retrospective of one of the most gifted purveyors of horror fiction currently
plying their trade. It’s t be hoped that this yearly ritual of short story
releases continues into the future, I for one can’t wait to see what happens
next.